Merry Christmas!God is among us!Everything’s changed!Just as the herald angels sang Jesus’ birth
and declared God’s monumental arrival on the earth, so too God’s people must go
and tell!Go, tell it on the
mountain.Go, tell it in the cities and
in the country.Tell it in the offices
and in the schools.Go, tell God’s
salvation to everyone who will hear it, because God has sent His joy to the
world.

You’ve been waiting for Christmas
so you can celebrate the season.You’ve been
waiting so you can sing some songs of joy.You’ve been wanting to seek some solace.But is that all there is?Comfort
and cheer?Joy to the world?Nothing more?In Colossians 1:25 (NIV), the apostle Paul said that God had
commissioned him “to present to you the word of God in its fullness.”What is the fullness of God’s word?It’s more than the customary Christmas
story.It’s more than carols and
candles.The fullness of God’s word is “the
mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now
disclosed to the Lord’s people (Colossians 1:26).”

Paul
uses the word “mystery.”But
this word with Greek origin doesn’t mean what you think it means.It doesn’t mean something secret that only a
sleuth can find.It doesn’t mean a perplexing
puzzle that baffles the brilliant.The
word “mystery” actually means something revealed—like that final scene in a
whodunit when the crime is solved and everything set right.

Paul
said the mystery is solved.The secret
is revealed.Everything is set right.

What’s
the solution?“God has chosen to make
known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).”Christ
in you, the hope of glory.This is
the fullness of God’s word.

You
see, it’s not enough to celebrate Christmas, the day when God came into the
world.His name, “Emmanuel,” means “God
with us.”But it’s not enough that God
was with us in the flesh, or that God is with us in the spirit.You can celebrate His advent into the world
all you want, but this Christmas I ask you whether Christ has come into your
heart.Christ in you is your hope of glory.Only then will everything truly change.Only then will you truly know His peace, love, hope, and joy.

If God is in your heart, then
everything’s changed!God gave His word
that we might know and believe.God gave
this word that we might be saved—and more than that.He wants believers to come to full maturity
in Christ (verse 28).He invites you to
go deeper into the mystery, to go and tell it on the mountain that in Christ,
everything’s changed.

If you’re not a
believer, then God invites you to receive the Babe of Bethlehem and give real
meaning to your celebration of Christmas.He invites you to believe the Lord of life and the message He
brings.He invites you to conceive even
as Mary did, inviting Jesus inside so that you can know “Christ in you, the
hope of glory.”Won’t you respond to His
call this Christmas?

Friday, December 16, 2011

This morning, I heard this song for the first time, and had to share it with you. It's entitled "The Dutchman," and was written by Michael Smith (no relation to me). I wanted to share it with you, because it communicates the kind of love that old couples have for each other. Beth and I have known many old couples who have been examples to us in our marriage.

Growing old together is a bittersweet thing. No one wants to watch a loved one decline in physical or mental strength. But being there to take care of one another is what marriage is all about.

Beth, you and I are approaching twenty years of marriage. I pray for decades more. I look forward to the adventure of growing old together. I love you.

Monday, December 12, 2011

A
couple of years ago, my brother Paul and I had an online debate on our two
blogs.I posted a story about a woman in
one of our local shops who told me, "You sure look like Richard Dreyfuss.
You even sound like him." Then, with all seriousness in her voice she
said, "Are you Richard Dreyfuss?"

My brother was
surprised by this story, because people have always told him told him that he is a dead ringer for the actor.On his blog, he had even posted pictures side
by side, of himself and the actor.Even
our mother said she had seen the photo of Dreyfuss and wondered if Paul had
simply grown his hair long.

We asked our blog
readers for their comments, and overwhelmingly they voted that while Paul was
actually a doppelganger of Richard
Dreyfuss, I was in fact the clone of the myth-busting Adam Savage.It seems that with around 6 billion people on
the planet, there are only so many faces to go around.Everyone is rumored to have a doppelganger, a non-biological twin or
double, walking around out there somewhere.

Genesis 1:27 tells us that our Maker made us to
reflect God’s own glory.“So God created
man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he
created them.”That image was broken by
our sin, and now we are poor examples of God’s likeness.So God planned to restore His image in one
sinless man: His own divine son Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 1:3 says,
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his
being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”In Colossians 1, verses 15 and 19-20,
Paul writes:“The Son is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation…For God was pleased to have
all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all
things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through
his blood, shed on the cross.”

In one man, Jesus,
dwelt both the fullness of God, and the fullness of frail humanity.His sinless life and His sacrificial death
reunite our heavenly Father with anyone who would again become a true bearer of
God’s image.Colossians 2:9-10 says, “For
in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you
have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.”Being the head over every power and authority
in your life, He sets you free to serve Him and represent His character to the
world.

This means that if
you’re a Christian then you become not just a poor soul living out your time on
this earth—you become Jesus’ doppelganger
for other people to see.When they
see you, they see our Lord.Colossians 1:27 says that “Christ in you [is] the hope of
glory.”He is your own hope, and when
you bear His image to the world, He becomes their hope as well.This Christmas as we remember that Jesus came
into the world as a little baby, let’s also remember that He remains in the
world in the witness of every Christian who bears His image and His name.

Monday, December 5, 2011

“When the fullness of time had
come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem
those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons
(Galatians 4:4-5 ESV).”

The Bible says
that unbelievers who were once enslaved to sin are now brought near by the
blood of Jesus.Because He gave the
ultimate gift of love when He died on the cross, those who were once strangers
to God are brought into the family of God.They are adopted into God’s household and become brothers and sisters of
Jesus, who is the only begotten Son of heavenly Father.

Jesus’ life is the
pivotal moment of all history, dividing our timeline between B.C. and A.D.During the season of Advent, Christians wait for
the second coming of Christ.But just
think how anxiously Old Testament believers waited for the Messiah’s first
arrival.We count backwards from B.C. to
the year 0 A.D., but they had no idea when their Savior would be born.They didn’t know that the day of His arrival
would have less to do with dates on the calendar, and more to do with God
bringing things about in the “fullness of time.”

What is the
“fullness of time?”Simply put, it is
God’s perfect timing as He works with events in human history to bring His
purposes about.God does things when He
is ready to—not when we think He ought to.Because God stands outside of time, seeing beginning and end all at once,[i] He
is able to interject His will into our human existence, inviting us to trust in
His timing.Prior to Christ’s coming,
believers waited without knowing when God would send the Savior.They only knew that He was faithful, and that
He would do it when He was ready.

From the beginning,
God was working His purpose out.When
God saved Noah’s family from the flood, He didn’t rescue just anybody—He was
rescuing the one who was “perfect in his generations.”[ii]In other words, God knew that it was from the
line of Noah that Jesus would descend, so God saved Jesus’ ancestor out of all
humanity.If God had given the wrong guy
the plans for the ark, Jesus never would have been born.But God knows what He’s doing.So the Lord’s orchestration of human events
continues.When God called Abraham,[iii] when
He passed over the Hebrew houses in Egypt,[iv]
and when God promised David that his line would endure forever,[v]
God was working His purpose out in human history.He was working in the fullness of time.All these, and countless other things, had to happen before the world was ready
for the Messiah to arrive.Then, when
the time was right, God sent His Son.

If you find
yourself in a waiting pattern, unsure of how God is going to bring his purposes
out in your life, then trust that He is operating in the fullness of time.At just the right moment, God will show you
His faithfulness.Perhaps He is arranging
things so they will be just right,
creating the perfect setting in which to show you His salvation.At the instant of your greatest need—and not
before—He will act, and demonstrate His glory.Trust in His goodness, and wait on His plan, which you’ll find in the fullness of time.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Many of us grew up hearing the
children’s song that says, “Be careful, little feet, where you go; for the
Father up above is looking down in love; oh be careful, little feet, where you
go.” Jesus told His disciples “Follow
me.” For those who walk in the way of
Jesus, it’s best to be careful where you let your feet carry you.

Psalm 1:1 (NKJV) recognizes three places
that believers should avoid. It says:

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the
counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of
sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of
the scornful;

Most Christians don’t set out to
sin—they just stumble into it. Sin
creeps up on you where you least expect it.
It begins with something as simple as walking in the wrong
direction. Imagine the alcoholic who
decides to go for a walk. The road forks
to the right and to the left. The road
to the right leads to his church, where nearby live many of his new Christian
friends and mentors. The road to the
left leads to the downtown district where he used to frequent bars and liquor
stores. He stands at the crossroads,
deciding which way to walk. He doesn’t
say, “I think I’ll go and have a drink.”
He simply decides to walk down the road to the left and see what there
is to see. He’s walking in the counsel
of the ungodly.

The left-hand road leads to the
streets where he finds his old drinking buddies on the corner. They see him, and invite him to stop for just
a bit. He doesn’t say, “I think I’ll have
a drink with them,” but he does decide to stop for a chat. He goes from walking in the counsel of the
ungodly to standing in the path of sinners.
It’s a subtle degeneration—one that he doesn’t even perceive. But just watch the trouble it causes!

“Why don’t you come in and take a
load off your tired feet?” one of his old friends says to him. He doesn’t intend to do anything but have a
seat for a while, but before you know it he’s gone from standing in the path of
sinners, to sitting in the seat of scoffers.
From walking, to standing, to sitting—and now he’s got a glass in his
hand. That glass that he never set out
to find, has now found him. It’s not
because he decided to misbehave from the beginning, but because he just wasn’t
careful about the little decisions he made along the way.

Psalm 1:1 pronounces a blessing on
the person who does not follow that kind of path. Instead, verse two suggests a better
obsession than the sin that so easily entangles: “But his delight is in the law of the
LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.” When you set your mind on the things of God, His
word that lives in your heart will help you decide, when you stand at the
crossroads. Follow God’s word, and
you’ll be able to follow the advice of Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV), which says:

Trust in the
LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Fall
is in the air! The leaves have already changed and made a crackly carpet on my
once-green lawn. Today, I got out the
typical tools of fall, to take care of those leaves As a pastor, I can’t burn leaves just any
evening. It’s illegal to burn before 4pm, and I have meetings many evenings. Often the weather is uncooperative, and either
the leaves are too wet, or the wind is too high. So the evening has to be just right—like
tonight. It’s dry and still, and my
calendar’s clear. So I got my my rakes,
matches, and garden hose. You see, I’m a
burner, not a bagger.

My
younger son knows my technique well, so he asked me curiously, “What’s the leaf
blower for?” You see, I’m a lawnmower
man. He helped me rake out the bushes,
and watched as I sucked up the leaves with my riding mower, then put them in a
pile to burn them (very carefully). So
since I’m a lawnmower man, he wanted to know what I was going to do with the
leaf blower.

“What do you need to build a fire?” I asked
him.

If you’re a
regular reader then you remember that this same nine-year-old and I just went
camping a few weeks ago, and he built and lit his first campfire. So he knew the answer by heart: “Fuel, heat, and oxygen,” he said.

“That’s right,” I
told him. “The dry leaves are the fuel,
the matches provide the heat, but on a still night like this, we might have to
help the wind along.”[i]

You should have
seen his delight as throughout the evening I pointed my leaf blower at the
places where leaf embers had almost died.
“Woah!” he often exclaimed, as the air hit the leaves and embers ignited
in a shower of orange. Flames leapt up
and a guttering fire was once more renewed.

This is what Paul
had in mind when he said to young Timothy, “I remind you to fan into flame the
gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands (1 Timothy
1:6).” Sometimes Christians start out
well, but something hinders the fire in our hearts. Life can leave us breathless, or we can
separate ourselves from the warmth of other believers, or we might let the
devil dampen our spirits. A fire in your
heart can be a difficult thing to maintain.
It doesn’t just tend itself. You
have to watch it, nurture it, help it along.
That’s why Paul told the Thessalonians, “Do not quench the Spirit.” Like a fire, your spirit needs the warmth of
others believers, the fuel of God’s word, and the breath of the Holy Spirit to
burn inside of you. Then you’ll be able
to sing from your heart the hymn of B.B. McKinney, Breathe on Me:

Holy Spirit, breathe on me,
my stubborn will subdue;
teach me in words of living flame
what Christ would have me do.

Holy Spirit, breathe on me,
fill me with pow'r divine;
kindle a flame of love and zeal
within this heart of mine.

[i] I do not recommend that my
readers attempt this burning method at home.
This is for professional pyromaniacs only.

When I was a
child, my family took a vacation to Disney World. What started out as a fun ride turned into
disaster when we got stuck on the “It’s a Small World” ride for a couple of
hours. Imagine being confined to a small
boat in an enclosed space while animatronic figures sing a saccharine song over
and over while you wait for the ride to be resumed or evacuated. I just couldn’t wait for someone to throw the
switch that would pick us up out of that watery ride and set us on solid
ground, far from earshot of that song.

An experience like this, however
grating on the nerves, is nothing compared to the agonizing waits of actual
life. Hospital waiting rooms are crowded
with those who wait impatiently to hear word of a loved one’s surgery. Parents spend many late night hours waiting
for children to come home safely from work or a date. Widows wait with hands folded in prayer,
pining for the day when they will see their departed spouses again in
Glory.

As the psalmist waits, he recalls
God’s past faithfulness, when the Father lifted him out of the mire and set his
feet on a rock. As you wait on God,
remember His faithfulness to you in the past.
You have seen effortless times in your life—those sublime moments when
everything seems to fit together as if by plan.
Perhaps it was by plan, and God is the master architect. You have also seen trying times, when
everything seems to be falling apart.
But you have seen either God’s deliverance out of those situations, or
felt God’s presence to calm you during those times.

Recalling God’s past faithfulness
gives you faith in this present moment.
You say, “Here I am, I have come,” presenting yourself to God to do with
as He pleases. You know He will care for
you, because He always has. Remember His
protection and salvation, and anticipate a time of rejoicing once your wait is
over. Wait on the Lord, and be
patient. Wait on the Lord.

Monday, November 7, 2011

It has been said that Christians without
goals are a little like Alice in the fairy tale Alice in Wonderland. In a conversation
between her and the Cheshire Cat, Alice asked, "Would you tell me please,
which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on
where you want to get to," said the cat. "I don't much care
where," said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the cat.[i] When a Christian has no idea where they’re
trying to go in life, then it doesn’t matter which way they go. But God has a plan for you, and understanding
your purpose is the key to knowing how to get there.

Ezra knew his purpose as he gathered God’s
people to leave Babylon and return to Jerusalem. He was going to restore true
worship in a rebuilt temple. He had all
the money and tools he needed for the task.
One thing he lacked: people to serve.
Ezra writes, “When I checked among the people and the priests, I found
no Levites there.”[ii] So he sent a delegation to the local Levite
seminary and asked the school’s president to send him some students who would
be willing to serve. In the end, out of
the six or seven thousand people who went with Ezra to restore worship in the
temple, only twenty were qualified Levites.
Ezra must have been wishing that more had answered God’s call.

Today, most Christian denominations in America are experiencing a pastor shortage. One pastor within my own denomination writes:
“Nearly half our senior pastors are entering into the last 10 year of their
ministry before retirement, and if the high stress of pastoring (and the
normal life expectancy of Americans about 77) holds constant then
about 25% of our current pastor will be in heaven in 2020. Over half of
pastors are in their late 50 and 25% are in the late 60s.
Most will either retire or “go on to be with the Lord” over the next ten
years.”[iii]

God needs more people who will answer His
call to Christian service. We talk about
God calling people like Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, and the disciples. We know that God calls pastors to
ministry. But every believer has a call
from God. Whether you’ve discerned it
yet or not, God has called you to serve Him in one way or another. It might be in vocational Christian service,
or it may be in the secular world. God
may lead you to stay exactly where you are, and to continue doing what you’ve
been doing, but to change your focus and do if for Him instead of for yourself.

Discerning your call means listening to
God’s still, small voice. God may speak
to you in the quiet of your prayer time, or your Bible’s well-worn pages. You may hear His voice through the lips of
friends and neighbors who share godly counsel, or through the Sunday sermon, or
on Christian radio. Perhaps nature
itself will show you something you need to know from God, or situations will
play themselves out in such a way that God’s purposes become clear. However God’s call comes, I hope you will
listen with your heart. Consider your
call. Find your purpose. Trust God to bring it about.

Monday, October 24, 2011

I wouldn’t describe myself as a
country music fan, but I love Trace Adkins’ song, Just Fishin’.[i]It’s about a man and his young daughter
fishing together.She thinks they’re
just fishing, but he realizes that they’re doing much more than that.They’re creating a bond that will last a
lifetime.Adkins sings:

And she thinks we’re just fishin’ on the
river side,
Throwing back what we could fry,
Drowning worms an killing time,
Nothing too ambitious
She ain’t even thinking about what’s really going on right now
But I guarantee this memories a big one
And she thinks we’re just fishin’

This past weekend I took my youngest
son camping.At nine years old, it was
his first camping trip.We hiked.We fished.We canoed.We cooked over a
campfire.To me, It was no big
deal.To him, it was huge.To me, it was a weekend away.But he told me he’d had “one of the best days
of my life.”

Over the past thirty-nine years, I’ve had countless camping trips.Daniel can count only one.I’ve started innumerable campfires, but this
weekend Daniel lit his first.I have a
whole collection of knives, but Daniel just received his first pocket
knife.I have four children with whom
I’ve had countless “special” days.But
each of my children has only one dad to share a special day with them.With the busyness of my schedule, it’s easy
to let the events on my calendar crowd out the really important things.Maybe you’re like me, and you need to reframe
your life so that you schedule your activity around your family, rather than
scheduling your family around your activities.

Trace Adkins talks about fishing being more than fishing, and I
agree.In fact, it has nothing to do
with catching fish at all.Daniel and I
never got a bite, but the time we spent together was worth more than anything
we could have put in a pan.As the
evening wound to a close and our fire died to embers, our conversation turned
to spiritual things.He had questions,
and together we found where the Bible had answers.That never would have happened if I hadn’t made
time for him.

In Deuteronomy 6:5-7 God says, “You shall love the Lord with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your might.And these words that I command you today
shall be on your heart.You shall teach
them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your
house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you
rise.”In other words, spend time with
your kids and grandkids.While you’re
spending time with them, whatever you’re doing, tell them about God.

Popular parenting experts say that quantity time isn’t important, but
what’s necessary is to spend “quality time” with our kids.But quality time is what happens when you
spend a quantity of time together.Give
yourself to them, and in years to come it will be easier for them to give
themselves to Jesus.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Have you ever
reached a standstill in life, where God has been using you for His kingdom, but
then fear or disappointment or depression grips you and all your work seems to
be for nothing?God has great plans for
His people.The problem is that
sometimes we forget who we are in Christ.We forget the power of the Holy Spirit, and the mission He has given us.

In Ezra chapter four, God’s people who have been rebuilding the temple
stop their work, because they fear man rather than God.But in chapter five, they are inspired by the
preaching of Haggai and Zechariah, and they resume their work once again.The Persian-appointed governor and other
officials ask them, “’Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish
it?’ They also asked, ‘What are the names of those who are constructing this building
(Ezra 5:3-4 NIV)?’”

Satan, the enemy of our souls, likes to intimidate us into
submission.He likes to “kick butt and
take names.”Whenever he sees us
building God’s temple in our hearts, he tries to put a stop to it.If he sees spiritual growth within believers,
he throws up roadblocks to oppose it.Our problem is that we forget who we are.We forget that our power and authority come
from God.When the accuser says, “Who do
you think you are?” we tend to shrink in fear rather than speaking with
faith.But God wants us to remember who
we are.

When I was young, my mother used to pray over us before we would catch
the school bus.Then she’d embarrass us
in front of the neighbor kids by calling from the front porch, “Take God with
you, and remember who you are!”At the
time, we didn’t want to hear it—but it was one of the greatest life lessons
I’ve ever had.Everywhere we go, we need
to carry God’s authority with us.We
need to remember who we are as Christians—children of the King, bought by the
blood of Jesus.That carries with it
immeasurable strength and authority.

The governor sent a report to the king, saying, “We questioned the elders
and asked them, ‘Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?
(verse 9)’”The response they received
surprised them, for the workers cited a work order from Cyrus, a previous and
greater king than Darius.They also said
that they were commissioned to build the temple by the greatest King of
all:“We are the servants of the God of
heaven and earth and we are rebuilding
the temple that was built many years ago (verse 11 NIV).”They knew who they were, and whose authority
they claimed.Do you?

When fear threatens to shut you down, do you give in to it or do you
claim your authority as a servant of the God of heaven and earth?Don’t let the devil stall the building
project that God has started in your heart.Be confident that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to
completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6 NIV).”Take God with you, and remember who you are!

Monday, October 10, 2011

When I was a small child growing up
in the Henrico suburbs, I played all over our neighborhood.Times were different then, and my parents let
me roam from one neighbor’s house to another in a safe pack of kids that looked
out for one another.We played in each
other’s yards and club houses.We swung
on swing sets and used the entire neighborhood for our epic games of war
games.We played everywhere—except for
the one place I refused to play.I was
afraid to go in my side yard.

In my small side yard there was a
dark area, shaded by our next door neighbor’s fence and an overhanging tree on
one side, and by our house on the other side.Ivy grew on the tree and ran up the side of the house, hanging in creepy
tatters that sparked my young imagination.Whenever a squirrel or other small animal would scurry through the
undergrowth, I envisioned all sorts of frightening things making those
noises.I was convinced that a witch
lived in that dark corner of my yard, and my fear kept me from playing anywhere
near there.

Now that I’ve grown up, I’m no
longer afraid of witches and monsters.But I have to admit that there are still some dark corners in my life
that fill me with fear.Perhaps you have
some things that scare you, too.Recent
political unrest and trouble on Wall Street have got people fearing for the
future.With fear fueled on the one hand
by corporate giants and on the other hand by activist groups like Anonymous
(whose tag line, by the way, is the same as the demoniac, “We are legion, for
we are many”)[i], many Americans
dread the worst.One of my neighbors is
planning what to do when civilization as we know it crumbles within the next
few weeks.

Perhaps your dark corners aren’t
political or economic.Maybe you fear
the dissolution of that relationship that has been so strained in recent
months.Or it could be that the doctor’s
report has left you despairing for the future.Possibly, your children are about to make life decisions that you think
would end in disaster.Whatever the dark
places in your yard, God wants to shine His light.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV) says, “For God
has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound
mind.”1 John 4:18 (NKJV) tells us, “There is no fear in love; but
perfect love casts out fear.”

How do we combat the fear that threatens the peace that God wants to put
in our hearts?Seek the perfect love of
God.1 John 4:8b-10 says, “God is love.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the
world that we might live through him.This
is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an
atoning sacrifice for our sins.”Only
through the perfect love of Jesus can your fear, like a demon, be cast into the
outer darkness.Receive His love
today.Let Him cast out your fear.Let Him set you free.

Monday, October 3, 2011

My church is almost at the end of a
building project that began its planning stages five years ago. Our people are cramped for space. So we’re building an extension to the
fellowship hall and some new Sunday school rooms. The project is scheduled to be complete by
the beginning of November, and we’re all getting pretty excited. I’ve been teaching from the book of Ezra
lately, and we’ve been talking about what it really means to build God’s temple.

Ezra led the Israelite exiles back
to Israel, from
their seventy-year captivity in Babylon. There, they began to rebuild the temple that
had been destroyed in their grandparents’ day.
They needed faith and dedication in order to get the project off the
ground, and to see it through to completion.
My church is building a physical house for God’s work, but 1 Corinthians
3:16 (NIV) says that “you are a temple of God and that the
Spirit of God dwells in you.”
Like the Israelites who rebuilt the temple, and like my church members
who are building Sunday school rooms, you need faith and dedication as you
build the temple of the Holy Spirit in your heart.

What does it mean to build God’s temple inside you? Many people think that means filling their
lives with service activities like feeding the poor and clothing the naked and
healing the sick and comforting the afflicted.
This might build God’s kingdom on the earth, but it doesn’t build God’s
temple inside you. While these things
should overflow from a life dedicated to God, they are the result and not the
source of God’s blessing. Building God’s
temple inside you means growing your spirit.
This can’t be done by hard work—it can only be done through prayer and
immersing yourself in God’s word, the Bible.

Ezra 3:6 (HCSB) says that “they
began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, even though the foundation of the
LORD's temple had not [yet] been laid.”
Dedicated Christians are often very good at finding helpful things to
do, in order to serve others and build God’s kingdom. This is good, but we need to follow the
example of Ezra, who constructed the altar and began regular sacrifices even
before he began his work on the temple.
We need to maintain the altar of our spiritual life before we busy
ourselves with doing good. God wants to
use you to do great things—but make sure that you prepare your heart for prayer
before you prepare your hands for work.

Have you been weary lately from all the good things you’ve been doing for
God? Why not take some time away from
the work of building God’s kingdom, and build an altar to God right where you
are? Let Him renew your heart, and then
you’ll have energy to do the rest.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

I
am basically a lazy musician.I play the
piano, the harmonica, and an African hand drum called the djembe, all by
ear.It’s not that I can’t read music—I
had five years of piano lessons.I just don’t
want to put in the work it takes to actually practice.Now, I’ve added a different drum to my list
of noise makers: the Irish bodhran (pronounced bow-ran).I’ve been driving my family nuts over the
past couple of weeks, learning this new instrument.While I’ve been playing the djembe for a
decade, the bodhran is entirely new to me.The rhythms and technique are altogether different.I’ve had to learn the beat of a different
drum.

The
bodhran has taught me that I can’t be a lazy musician.In contrast to my other instruments, I
actually have to work at this!My church
family doesn’t have to worry—they won’t hear the sound of the bodhran just
yet.2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.”Apparently, I need to study a little bit more as I learn the beat of a
different drum.

God
has given each of us a talent, or a handful of talents, to be used for His
glory.In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells
the parable of a wealthy man who went on a journey.He entrusted his servants with the care of
his money (a currency called talents).When he returned, some of them had invested the money and returned his
talents back to him along with the profit.This greatly pleased the master.But one servant had been afraid to risk anything, and buried the
talent.When the master returned, all he
received from the lazy servant was his original coin—and of course the master
did not respond favorably to that!

What
talents have you received from the Lord?Perhaps God has gifted you as a teacher or as a musician.Or maybe you love to serve in the church
kitchen.You could be a generous giver
to the missions of the church, or you might enjoy caring for the sick.Whatever you do for God, make sure you take
the time to perfect your craft.Giving
God your best means dedicating yourself to improvement.For you that could mean taking a CPR class so
you’ll be a better nursery worker.Or it
might mean preparing your lesson a bit more before you preach or teach it.If you’re on your church’s praise team or
choir, make sure you attend practices before you sing with the group on Sunday
morning.Using your talents for God
means improving them as you go.This is
how we give God our best.

In
Walden, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “If
a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a
different drummer.”I’m not sure I agree
with Thoreau.Maybe if he isn’t keeping
step, it’s just because he needs to practice some more. God has given His people many gifts and
talents.Rather than shrugging off your
lack of preparation and calling it originality or “keeping in step with the
Spirit,” why not take time to practice the talents the Lord has given you?That’s how you glorify Him—by honoring His
gift and studying to show yourself approved.

Check out this video of the Corrs. Irish music is my favorite. For a great bodhran solo, listen to this video at 1:40 (one minute, forty seconds). If the video doesn't load, then click here.

All of us
have pivotal moments in life, where things have changed and nothing will ever
be the same again.You’ve crossed over
from one stage to another, and there’s no going back.These watershed events are often symbolized
by water crossings.In the book of
Genesis, Eden was surrounded by
rivers.When Adam and Eve were evicted
from Eden, they had to cross the
river from a life of blessing to a life of toil and curse.In Exodus, God miraculously parted the Red
Sea so that the Israelites could cross on solid ground.They left behind their slavery, entering
lives of freedom and new national identity—and life would be changed forever.

Israel
wandered in the wilderness for forty years because of disobedience and
faithlessness.Finally Moses died,
Joshua took the lead, and God was ready to send the people in to possess the
Promised Land.As they stood on the
banks of the Jordan River, they realized that once they
crossed, life would be different than they had ever known before.

In pivotal
moments like this, we need to take our cue from the ancient Israelites.Joshua told the people to follow the Ark
as it went before them, since they had never been this way before.[i]When life presents you with situations that
you have never before encountered, make sure that you put God first.Rather than following your own plans, follow
God’s word, and let Him lead you.

“Joshua told
the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing
things among you.’”[ii]In Joshua’s day, consecrating yourself
involved washing, making sacrifices, and anointing yourself.Today believers should face pivotal moments
in life by living in God’s holiness, receiving the sacrifice of Jesus, and letting
the Holy Spirit anoint them with His presence.Why did Israel
consecrate themselves?Not for the river
crossing, but because there were enemies ahead.Believers today also need to realize that there are spiritual enemies
ahead.God wants you to be “more than
conquerors,”[iii] and a
holy life is the only way you can win.

When the
priests’ feet touched the water’s edge, “the water from upstream stopped
flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away...So the people crossed
over opposite Jericho. The priests
who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the
middle of the Jordan,
while all Israel
passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.”[iv]

At the Red
Sea a generation ago, God had first parted the waters and then Israel
had crossed on dry ground.Now at the Jordan,
God expected them to have learned about God’s faithfulness.He expected them to have grown in their own
faith.So God waited for them to take
the first step into the water before He worked the miracle.Too often we sit around waiting for God to
act on our behalf without taking any kind of action ourselves.But God delights in seeing believers step out
in faith.When all your waiting accomplishes
nothing—why not step out?

Life is
going to bring troublesome times.You
may find yourself saying, “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my
neck.”[v]When you come to those difficult times and you
know life is about to change forever, don’t fear.Trust in God, and “Consecrate yourselves, for
the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

Why Is My Blog Called "Love the Word?"

So I was finally convinced to move into the 21st century and start a blog. What to name it?I've never liked those corny preacher-related email addresses like praisethelordimsavedandpreachingforjesus@hotmail.com. (My apologies if that's a real email address.) They seem disingenuous (isn't that a great word? According to the rhymezone.com dictionary it means "not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness.) I'd rather have a title for my blog that says what it is, and means it.

Then it hit me. "Love The Word." What could be more authentic, bona fide, genuine, literal, real, sincere, true, unveigned, unquestionable, and veritable than that?

I Love The Word.This can mean more than one thing, of course.

The Book of John, chapter 1 (NLT) says of Jesus:1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,and his life brought light to everyone. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. 14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. So it's quite obvious, isn't it? I love The Word--Jesus Himself, without whom there would be no you, no me, no blog for that matter.

But my blog title means something else as well. I love the word. My kids call me a 'word nerd.' I love words. I love what you can do with them--the impact they can make on people's lives. I love the history of words, both in English and in the other languages I've studied (Latin, Spanish, Greek). As a pastor, I use words as I preach every week, to try to impart the truth of The Word--Jesus. As a writer, I use words to share ideas, entertain, and inspire. So, as a typical 'word nerd' I had to come up with a blog title that truly embodied my affinity for both the Logos and the phrase.

On this blog you'll find my random thoughts. You'll also find a link to "Spirit and Truth," a weekly column I write for the southern Virginia newspaper, The Southside Messenger. In addition, you're likely to find various musings on some of my favorite topics including writing, family, the Christian life, and more. Thanks for stopping in. My hope is that you'll love the word as much as I do.

This Day in History

About Me

I am the pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Scottsburg, Virginia, and have been in ministry over half my life.
I have been published in several newspapers, and write a weekly column entitled "Spirit and Truth" in The Southside Messenger, which has a circulation in southside Virginia.
I have four beautiful children and three wonderful grandbabies, some of whom live with me.